In May, Senegal’s former environment minister and activist Haidar El Ali gave a disturbing account of the rapid depletion of the forest, due to illegal timber sales from Senegal to Gambia.

The country’s defence Minister Augustin Tine on Sunday said the state will act with strong measures to end (this) situation in a few days.

The government says the country has lost more than a million trees since 2010, while operators based in the Gambia pocketed over $240m by exporting the wood to China, where demand for furniture has exploded in recent years.